Canyon lifer evolves into emergency news source

Joanne Hubble of Modjeska Canyon conducts a radio check at her home on Tuesday. Hubble has built a vital communications network to keep canyon residents up to date on fires and other incidents. She launched the complex network after what she says was a frustrating experience trying to get good info on Santiago Fire six years ago. Her email alerts have become vital for more than 1,300 canyon residents.ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Midmorning Sunday, Joanne Hubble goes to an oak desk in her rock-and-log home and springs to action.

Soon, an emergency radio crackled to life.

Scanners on her iPhone and laptop hummed with chatter from the Orange County Fire Authority.

Hubble's eyes, filled with concern, darted through a CHP website to check for road closures.

Within minutes, after making some phone calls, Hubble fired off this email:

Residents,

There is a small fire in Baker Canyon. It is in a compost pile — not in the brush. Engines 16, 14, 42, 315, 318 have all been called. Please stand by for more information as it comes in.

The information went out to 1,320 residents of Modjeska, Silverado, Williams, Trabuco and smaller surrounding canyons, in addition to certain government and county officials, and to park rangers.

In the canyons, the mere whiff of smoke can turn stomachs with dread. Residents know all too well how nature can transform their idyllic surroundings into ruins. It happened during the 2007 Santiago fire, and it happened again in winter 2010, when heavy rains led to flooding.

Out of those disasters Hubble, 52, has emerged as the unofficial voice of emergency communications for canyon residents – a married mother of two teenage girls who relishes her volunteer role and who cherishes, in the larger canyon community, the warm embrace of family.

It wasn't always this way.

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“Hold on,” Hubble says. “I have to check the jerky.”

It's a crisp fall Tuesday morning and Hubble, wearing brown waterproof cowboy boots, Wrangler jeans, a large buckle from San Juan Capistrano's Swallows' Day Parade in 1990 and a blue plaid shirt, is whipping up batches of her Saddleback Mountain Beef Jerky for the upcoming Silverado Country Fair.

Joanne Hubble of Modjeska Canyon conducts a radio check at her home on Tuesday. Hubble has built a vital communications network to keep canyon residents up to date on fires and other incidents. She launched the complex network after what she says was a frustrating experience trying to get good info on Santiago Fire six years ago. Her email alerts have become vital for more than 1,300 canyon residents. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Joanne Hubble of Modjeska Canyon stands at the spot where the photograph on the screen was taken back a few days after the floods in December 22, 2010. Hubble has built a vital communications network to keep canyon residents up to date on fires and other incidents. She launched the complex network after what she says was a frustrating experience trying to get good info on Santiago Fire six years ago. Her email alerts have become vital for more than 1,300 canyon residents. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Joanne Hubble of Modjeska Canyon gazes out towards the hills from the balcony of her home. Hubble has built a vital communications network to keep canyon residents up to date on fires and other incidents. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Joanne Hubble of Modjeska Canyon gazes out towards the hills from the balcony of her home. Hubble has built a vital communications network to keep canyon residents up to date on fires and other incidents. ED CRISOSTOMO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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